February 2014 Archives

How much damage do studded tires cause? ODOT study will find out

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

ODOT’s last estimate blamed $50-60 million in
annual road damage on studded tire use.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Studded tires have been a thorn in the Oregon Department of Transportation’s side for many years. And it’s no surprise why. As federal funding and gas tax revenue fall off a cliff, the agency is struggling to pay its bills. Meanwhile those little spikes used by many Oregonians at the first hint of cold weather cause an estimated $50-60 million in damage each year. Now, 15 years after they first looked into the issue, ODOT has launched a new effort to learn more about how many people use studded tires and exactly how much damage they do.

Year: 2011
Brand: Trek
Model: Black men’s commuter
Color:Black
Size:27
Stolen in Portland, OR 97214
Stolen:2014-02-9
Stolen From: Oak manor, se 20th st
Neighborhood: Buckman
Owner: Joseph Ramirez
OwnerEmail: Jgm8k8( atsign )gmail.com
Description: Beer stickers,all black, disc brakes heart oregon sticker in center.
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

SE 9th and Marion triangle will be model for further Sellwood path improvements

The Sellwood-area neighborhood association is looking for ways to improve this triangular parcel along a new stretch of the Sellwood Corridor path.
(Image: Google Street View)

The Springwater Corridor is finally preparing to connect most of the way through the Sellwood neighborhood, but nobody’s decided yet what the land alongside the path will look like.

Gravel on the bike lane of N Interstate Ave as seen this morning.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

It’s been a challenging week transportation-wise here in Portland. First we were hit by snow and strong winds, then freezing rain, then a blanket of ice. After that, we had to trudge through tricky slush-piles. Now, thankfully, the weather is getting back to normal; but one last challenge remains: gravel.

Come check out the new Splendid Cycles location
at the I *Heart* Cargo Bikes event tomorrow.

Like we do every week (thanks to Hopworks!), we’ll post our Weekend Event Guide tomorrow afternoon. But since that guide only covers Friday through Sunday, and we’ve noticed several cool events happening before then, we figured a roundup was in order. With the big storm behind us we’re itching to get back to our bike-riding, bike-loving ways.

Thankfully, the events below give us some excellent opportunities to do just that…

Tonight!

Dress Like Your Bike – 7:00 pm at Gladys Bikes (3808 N Williams Ave., Suite 132)

A 2011 rendering of the proposed
Columbia River Crossing.

Two veteran state legislators, one of whom was a key swing vote in support of last year’s Columbia River Crossing funding plan, say consensus is building for scrapping the freeway-rail expansion plan and starting over.

Both said they doubt their colleagues will re-approve the existing proposal, though a public committee hearing Wednesday afternoon is likely to advance the debate.

State Rep. Mitch Greenlick and state Rep. Lew Frederick — neither of whom have conferred on the issue — both said Tuesday that a new, much smaller truck-and-train freight bridge would solve the key problems facing the river crossing with far lower costs.

Bad biking conditions made the evening news.

With the worst of the snow and ice storms behind us, the roads are slowly returning to normal. That is, unless you are trying to walk or bike.

As auto traffic volumes return to normal, people are finding that the conditions of bike lanes, neighborhood greenways, and off-street bike paths are full of a dangerous mix of slush, snow, and ice. This isn’t a surprise given that it’s the current policy of the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to only plow major roads and arterials.

Alison Graves at the 2011
Oregon Active Transportation Summit.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Alison Graves is the new executive director of Cycle Oregon, the Portland-based non-profit organization known for its week-long bike ride.

Graves’ name is familiar to many in local bike advocacy circles given her seven year stint with the Community Cycling Center. Graves stepped down as the CCC’s executive director last March and she is also on the board of the League of American Bicyclists. In May 2013, Graves won an Alice Award from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance for her work in “ushering in a new way of thinking around equity and inclusion for the bicycle movement.” While at the CCC, Graves was best known for her strategic embrace of programs and outreach that sought to break down bicycling’s “color barrier”.

At the CCC, Graves led the organization on a mission to use bicycles as a tool of empowerment for people of color in under-served communities. While the public face of Cycle Oregon is nearly the exact opposite demographic, the lesser-known mission of the organization is actually quite similar. Cycle Oregon, like the CCC, uses bicycling to make a positive impact on people and their communities. In Cycle Oregon’s case, the people impacted are Oregon’s many rural residents who benefit from the ride’s economic boost and from community projects funded through the Cycle Oregon Fund.

Side by side: skateboards are common in Denmark, too.
(Photo by J.Maus/BikePortland)

Its users are belittled, harassed and ignored, but people keep doing it because it’s practical, affordable and fun — and Portland is leading the nation in thinking about it as a useful form of transportation.

It’s skateboarding, and the new episode of BikePortland’s half-hour monthly podcast asks whether it’s following in biking’s trail.

In celebration of OMSI’s new skateboarding exhibit and Portland’s increasingly sophisticated skateboard advocacy movement, we invited two smart advocates to join us and talk about the parallels between skating and biking and the future of skating in the first major U.S. city to make skateboards street legal (that’d be ours).

A map of possible routes along the Clackamas River.
“Principal” proposed routes are in red and “alternative”
routes in green. See below for more maps.

A two-week virtual open house launched Monday to give people who bike and walk in Clackamas County a chance to share their expertise and opinions on the best routes for the county to improve.

It’s part of the county’s year-long Active Transportation Plan, an effort to improve healthy mobility, access, safety, and tourism in the county on the south side of the metro area.

For the new virtual open house, much of the focus is on a series of possible walking and biking routes that have been selected from many submitted earlier in the process.

Year: 2013
Brand: Vertigo
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11712501@N04/12459311925/
Stolen in , OR
Stolen:2014-02-11
Stolen From: Broadway and Main, across from the Schnitzer auditorium.
Owner: david ralley
OwnerEmail: ralley.2(AT)osu.edu
Description: Custom Vertigo road bike. 63cm titanium frame, carbon fork, Shimano ultegra components. Yellow cable housing and bottle cages. If it appears, it be easy to spot!
Police record with: portland pd
Police reference#: T14001314
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Black and red with with lettering and white bar tape BMC TeamMachine SLR01 2012

Year: 2012
Brand: BMC
Model: TeamMachine SLR01
Color:Black and red with with lettering and white bar tape
Size:50cm
Serial: Y0112TDI500090
Photo: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/723252/stolen/BMC_TeamMachine_SLR01-Y0112TDI500090-2.jpg
Stolen in San Francisco, CA 94108
Stolen:2014-02-2
Stolen From: Stolen in San Francisco, CA from inside a car that was broken into while parked on the corner of 7th St and Howard St (SoMa neighbourhood) on Sunday, 2nd Feb between 10:40am and 11:10am.
Neighborhood: Soma, San Francisco, CA
Owner: Adriano Castro
OwnerEmail: adrianobrancocastro(replace with at sign)gmail.com
Reward: Substantial
Description: – Make/model: BMC TeamMachine SLR01
– Year: 2012
– Color: black and red with white lettering. White bar tape. White bottle cages.
– Saddle: Fizik Arione, black with white line down the middle
– Serial: Y0112TDI 500090
– Size: 50cm
– Components: Shimano Ultegra Di2 (electronic shifting)
– Wheels: HED Ardennes FR (black rims with white lettering)
– Other noticeable features: scratch on right brake lever, chip on left seat stay

Contact via cell (415-216-5119).
Police record with: SF PD
Police reference#: 140096666
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

How much damage do studded tires cause? ODOT study will find out

Black Trek Black men’s commuter 2011

SE 9th and Marion triangle will be model for further Sellwood path improvements

The storm is over, the gravel remains: What local agencies are doing about it

Mid-week event roundup: Dress like your bike, a cargo bike party, and more

Tonight!

As legislators hold hearing on CRC, some are already looking at cheaper plans

Mix of snow, slush and ice make for tricky biking conditions

Alison Graves picked as new executive director of Cycle Oregon

BikePortland Podcast: Bikes and the future of skateboarding

Clackamas County wants your input on biking and walking connections

Vertigo 2013

Black and red with with lettering and white bar tape BMC TeamMachine SLR01 2012

Latest Headlines

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From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike